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Friday, September 4, 2009

Publishing: Fruit or Seed?

From my prayer journal one month ago:

It’s all so crazy, Lord, this building a platform. My head is spinning, causing things to fall out my ears. I want to write, and publish, even make some money at it, but all the preparation seems eternal. Help! I need Your perspective.

You are beset by impatience. You want everything today, or in ten minutes. This is the way of the world, but it’s not My way. My way is: till the soil, plant the seeds—many, many, many seeds—wait for rain, pull the weeds, wait for more rain, fertilize, more weed pulling, more waiting, then the harvest. Do you see the progression? Are you willing to do all these to reap your harvest? Or will you pull up the baby plants, never to bear?

And another thing: if you were training for a new job, it would take months, in some cases, years to fully learn the job and function in it at peak performance. Why should an artistic endeavor be less effort and commitment than learning mechanics or bookkeeping?

Publishing and making money are not fruits of your labor—they are the planting part. The fruit is changed lives in My kingdom. Obey Me, follow My lead, and calm down and wait, continually planting, and you will see fruit. You will see fruit.

P.S. I will be visiting my grandkids in Tulsa, OK Sunday Sept. 6th through Wednesday, Sept. 9th. My posts are scheduled, but I may not be blogging much during that time. Love you, Jen

19 comments:

It does take years for us to learn the craft of writing, similar to any other profession. Even if someone is gifted, they still must study, learn, and grow in their abilities. But it's hard to wait for fruit!!

I'm so glad you get the opportunity to go visit your grandkids!!! My mom just left after a two week visit with us and we miss her so much! Hope you have a wonderful time!

Thanks for the post. I've felt similarly about creating a platform in the past. It's taken awhile for me to see that all the little steps I'm doing now and staying consistent with are growing and have the capability of making a difference further down the road. Have a great weekend.

That's where I'm at right now. But look how quickly things turned around for you! I'm still one of your biggest fans. You're such a special giving person and you certainly deserve all of God's good gifts! Enjoy your vacation!!!

So true. I've found over the years that all those years you put into it definitely pay off. The people who get published right away learn just as those who take a while do...they just end up learning in front of readers, with all their mistakes out there in print to haunt them forever.